Olympics: Worst Swedish team since best on best Olympics?

[Matte99]

Looking back on this tournament and the Swedish roster this must have been the weakest team I can remember. Even the 94 team had more edge to it and im not talking about Forsberg who was still in SEL.

Winning a silver medal was beyond my expectations and the only way Sweden could have done any resistance in the final was if we had a full or nearly full team. Canada was so much better and a swedish team without any edge was just a snack for them.

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[OttawaRoughRiderFan*]

I disagree. Considering your injuries, I thought you guys were great. Just great.

Maybe you meant on paper? Anyway, now it is time for you to move to a new generation of top talent.

 

[Franck]

The 2010 team was quite comfortably worse than this.

What kind of moron brings Magnus Johansson and Mattias Weinhandl to a tournament played on small ice, oh, that's right, Bengt-Ã…ke Gustafsson.

And then add half-injured, over-the-hill Modin to that.

 

[Matte99]

I disagree. Considering your injuries, I thought you guys were great. Just great.

Maybe you meant on paper? Anyway, now it is time for you to move to a new generation of top talent.

Yeah, considering injuries they did great to get silver. The roster cant compete with anything i can remember seeing us send to the Olympics. With Bäckström and Zetterberg disappearing during the tournament it was simply empty up front, no one to carry the game in the offensive zone.

Look at the hockey that was played. The swedish team looked stunning for 1.5 period versus Czech republic and since that game EK and Alfie carried the team to the semifinal where we were a bit stronger than Finland without really shining.

 

[OttawaRoughRiderFan*]

Yeah, considering injuries they did great to get silver. The roster cant compete with anything i can remember seeing us send to the Olympics. With Bäckström and Zetterberg disappearing during the tournament it was simply empty up front, no one to carry the game in the offensive zone.

Look at the hockey that was played. The swedish team looked stunning for 1.5 period versus Czech republic and since that game EK and Alfie carried the team to the semifinal where we were a bit stronger than Finland without really shining.

I think you are being too hard on your team. They were amazing and they lost to a Canadian team that was peaking - and finally gelling!

I have seen a lot of quality players coming thru the WJR's for Sweden in recent years. Hopefully they become top players. You just need to concentrate on a changing of the guard - your team is a little old in the tooth up front.

 

[leafsfuture]

If this is a down era in Swedish hockey you guys are looking real good then.

Outside of USA, the team I would fear the most in 2018 is you guys. When OEL / Hedman / Brodin / Zibanejad / Forsberg / Lindholm (both of thems) / Landeskog mature its going to be scary.

 

[Matte99]

The 2010 team was quite comfortably worse than this.

What kind of moron brings Magnus Johansson and Mattias Weinhandl to a tournament played on small ice, oh, that's right, Bengt-Ã…ke Gustafsson.

And then add half-injured, over-the-hill Modin to that.

This team was pretty much horrible from start to end. The 2010 team looked better on paper even though, as you say, some players didn't really belong on small ice and others were over the hill. We entered the final with a bunch of 3rd liners... With exception for Steen who still played like a 3rd liner.

 

[Matte99]

If this is a down era in Swedish hockey you guys are looking real good then.

Outside of USA, the team I would fear the most in 2018 is you guys. When OEL / Hedman / Brodin / Zibanejad / Forsberg / Lindholm (both of thems) / Landeskog mature its going to be scary.

We totally lack elite forward talent (maybe Forsberg can get there, he did look much improved during WHJC). The back end will be elite in a few years. Goaltending might be ok if Lehner continues to develop. But yeah, Sweden is going through a generation gap, we simply lack the talent up front we use to have.

 

[Patchy]

Mattias Weinhandl

Linje 19 y'know. Sedins and Weinhandl. Probably only brought him there for that simple reason.

I still think the 2002 team is the most spectacular or at least played the best hockey. Sundin, Näslund, Lidström, Alfredsson in their prime. Not as deep or good overall as the other teams but the most lethal top players. And they didn't even have Forsberg. We wouldn't have lost to Belarus if he had played.

 

[pesko]

I think it was one of the best blue lines that Sweden has had in the Olympics, add Lundqvist to that and you get a pretty solid defensive core.

 

[Fataldogg]

It had the potential to be very strong.

They were without Backstrom, H. Sedin, and Zetterberg in the final game. That's their top three centers. And their center depth went to players like Johannsen and Kruger. 3rd and 4th line NHL centers. Than, they were also missing Franzen, another top-6 forward.

At 100% I think they could have competed with any team in the world, including Canada.

At the end of the day, their injuries were too much, and Sweden doesn't have the depth to lose four of their top six forwards, when the bottom of their line up mid level NHL players.

USA/Canada isn't impacted to the same degree w/ injuries. You're hurt? We'll dress the next 80 point player on the team.

It was blatantly obvious that the injuries were just too much to overcome. The game was very one sided. All the scoring chances were at Sweden's end.

And honestly, I think the same thing would have happened if they met USA in the Gold Medal game.

Their defensive core and goaltender were GREAT. Their forwards... Not so much. Very shallow.

 

[Matte99]

I think you are being too hard on your team. They were amazing and they lost to a Canadian team that was peaking - and finally gelling!

I have seen a lot of quality players coming thru the WJR's for Sweden in recent years. Hopefully they become top players. You just need to concentrate on a changing of the guard - your team is a little old in the tooth up front.

Old in the tooth is a nice way of saying "god awful slow"! I dont blame the team, just feel we are in a situation where there isnt top talent among forwards. We lose 3 C's and 1 winger and we got nothing ... Sedins are having a bad year, Loui Ericsson isn't half the player of last year, Steen having his best season (but not the last 2 weeks), Berglund also slow and sluggish, Landy is one more slow and simply not good enough on big ice, Silfverberg needs no comment (slooooooooooow). Mojo needs someone to carry the line for him, he got speed but seems to lack smth to be a top player.

Kruger, Hagelin and Nyqvist showed up and tried to compete. And that was it... the rest were constantly trying to catch up and turning the puck over because of it.

 

[Matte99]

Linje 19 y'know. Sedins and Weinhandl. Probably only brought him there for that simple reason.

I still think the 2002 team is the most spectacular or at least played the best hockey. Sundin, Näslund, Lidström, Alfredsson in their prime. Not as deep or good overall as the other teams but the most lethal top players. And they didn't even have Forsberg. We wouldn't have lost to Belarus if he had played.

Dont forget Nylander who played incredible versus Canada in the opening game. No, Forsberg would have gone nuts if he had been there when the Belarus crap happened.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

2010 the worst. 2002 and 2006 the best.

 

[Penguins87]

wow.............really man? you guys won a silver medal plus considering with the stars you have injured to me was amazing. im pretty sure sweden would've beat every other team except canada.

 

[Matte99]

wow.............really man? you guys won a silver medal plus considering with the stars you have injured to me was amazing. im pretty sure sweden would've beat every other team except canada.

We outplay the Czechs for 30 min (with Zetterberg) and then almost lose. After that we dont play any good teams until Finland who also had problems with injuries and is going through a generation shift. The only really good team we played was Canada. Both Sweden and Finland over achieved with their line ups.

 

[KlonkLLL]

Wow, this thread is so pessimistic. And after an olympic final aswell
Im abit worried though that since many kids today end up playing football instead of hockey. And since the economy in this country is down the drain and totally **** maybe parents does not have the funds to support their kid to play hockey. Its expensive.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Arguably the best goalie and best defenseman in the tournament. I don't think that is too bad.

 

[madmike77]

Wow, this thread is so pessimistic. And after an olympic final aswell
Im abit worried though that since many kids today end up playing football instead of hockey. And since the economy in this country is down the drain and totally **** maybe parents does not have the funds to support their kid to play hockey. Its expensive.

Sounds like the same situation in Canada. More parents are also worried about the contact and the effects of concussions.

The biggest issue is hockey is so expensive to play. There's more equipment involved and it costs more to maintain a rink.

 

[Highstyx]

Canada just made them LOOK like the worst, etc. they did that to everyone

tell you what, though: Vancouver won't win anything with the twins, good as they are. They have peaked and are still signed for this and 3 more seasons.. Oops. going off topic again

 

[Highstyx]

Wow, this thread is so pessimistic. And after an olympic final aswell
Im abit worried though that since many kids today end up playing football instead of hockey. And since the economy in this country is down the drain and totally **** maybe parents does not have the funds to support their kid to play hockey. Its expensive.

What country's Econ is in the tank? Not Canada's for sure

 

[Amused To Death]

Canada just made them LOOK like the worst, etc. they did that to everyone

tell you what, though: Vancouver won't win anything with the twins, good as they are. They have peaked and are still signed for this and 3 more seasons.. Oops. going off topic again

4 more seasons. Learn how to troll.

 

[Phil McKraken]

wow.............really man? you guys won a silver medal.

We're not talking placement but the roster itself, and it kind of spills over into individual NHL performances too. As of 2014 too many of Sweden's best players are either over the hill or too inexperienced, as evident by the roster we mustered (this would also have pertained to H. Sedin, Franzén and to a lesser extent Zetterberg). These are the golden years of the 85-89 generation (Crosby, Getzlaf, Doughty, Toews, Ovechkin, Malkin, Kane, Kessel etc.) and our comparatively weak production from those years is showing in the NHL and on our national team. We don't have those same kinds of prime superstars right now, outside of one or two.

I miss the good old days like in 2002 when most of our go-to guys were from the one and same generation and peaked together, we had more oompf then it feels like. Luckily we have had a great string of years from '90 to '95 so a shift towards the same kind of thing is coming.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

3 best centers missing.

Still had best goalie and best defender.

Sweden finished where I expected them to due to the circumstances.

 

[madmike77]

What country's Econ is in the tank? Not Canada's for sure

He was talking about Sweden, but if you live outside of Western Canada then yeah the economy here sucks too. That's why there's no inflation and consumer debt is so high.